How to Make Cannabis Tea

Don’t waste your stems and shake. Learn how to make cannabis tea!

These days there are so many ways to get high, so you might wonder why you would want to learn how to make cannabis tea. Well, cannabis tea has numerous advantages over other forms of cannabis use and other edibles. Like other edibles and oils, cannabis tea allows you to make the most of your stems and shake. It also offers a discrete means of consumption and it's delicious. Another advantage of cannabis tea is that, as a liquid, you can very easily adjust your dose to have the exact experience you want. Not only can you adjust your dose, but because THC is not water soluble, once you know how to make cannabis tea, you can choose to make your tea in several different ways that will affect just how psychoactive your brew ends up being.

Cannabis tea also has several therapeutic benefits over other means of marijuana ingestion. Like other edibles, the effects of cannabis tea are less immediate and take longer to build. The milder effects and longer build time make it much easier to avoid becoming intoxicated. Cannabis tea is also a traditional remedy for stress, nausea, and muscle pain. Some even recommend it for treating morning sickness, although medical opinions are mixed. Finally, cannabis tea is an excellent alternative to smoking, especially if you need to give your lungs a break.

Getting Started

I mentioned that there are several ways of learning how to make cannabis tea. Let's just talk about them in terms of THC-soluble teas, and non-soluble teas. If you want a less psychoactive high, then brewing your stems and shake in water will give you just that. However, if you want the full effects of your strain you'll need to put your cannabis through a decarboxylation process. This process converts the plant's THCA to THC. While this happens naturally when you smoke or cook your weed with butter and other fats in a recipe, it doesn't happen in a tea brewed with only water. If you want to make a THC-soluble tea you'll need to use fats from butter, milk or cream, or water and alcohol such as a tincture.

Try it Out!

Non-Soluble Cannabis Tea

Making a non-soluble tea is relatively simple. You'll need to grind your stems and shake then either boil them directly in water or place them inside a teabag. If you want to put your mix into a teabag you can open most teabags easily. Once you've opened a regular tea bag, you'll find that it unfolds into a tube of cheesecloth. Place your mix in the center of the tube and add your favorite tea if you like. Now fold the edges of the cheesecloth tube up together and close the bag in the same way you opened it. This is often just a little staple that you can replace. You're pretty much set at this point. Experiment carefully with how long you boil or steep your tea and flavor it with sweeter and cream or milk as you like. Try starting off with this simple recipe.

Take 1 or 2 grams of ground stems, shake, and/or leaves and add them to 1 and a half cups of simmering water for 30 minutes. You may have to adjust the proportions here depending on whether you're using mostly leaves, shake, or stems. This is something you'll figure out as you learn how to make cannabis tea. Strain it through some cheesecloth and enjoy.

Soluble Cannabis Tea Using Dairy

Learning how to make cannabis tea with dairy is not that much more difficult than making a non-soluble tea. You're going to need to use a dairy product, or some other fat or oil to create a binder to allow the decarboxylation to take place. Many people like using butter for its high fat content and efficiency. However, others don't like the taste it can leave behind in their tea. In those cases, you might try milk or heavy cream. If you're going to use milk, you'll need to use a milk with a high fat content. Skim milk is not going to cut it. You're also going to need to use more milk than cream and more cream than butter. This is just about getting enough fat into the process. If you're unsure of how to decide, you should think about what kind of drink you plan on making with your tea. If you're going to drink your tea plain, either with nothing in it, or only a little sweetener and milk, then you might want to use the butter. Otherwise your tea is going to end up being too creamy for your taste. On the other hand, if you want to end up making a London Fog or Chai Tea Latte, then plenty of milk or cream up front shouldn't be a problem. In fact, you don't even need water depending on what you're planning to make. Keep in mind, however, that if you plan to make a batch of tea and store it for a little while then the butter and water cannabis tea is going to keep a lot better than the alternatives. Ok, made up your mind? Here's a few recipes to get you started with this option.

Cannabis Green Tea

3 cups of water

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 gram of ground marijuana (use more if you're using stems and leaves)

Bring the three cups of water to a boil. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir this in until it melts away then add the half gram of cannabis. Boil this mixture for around 40 minutes, being sure to add water to replace the water that will be evaporating away. Pour this mixture through a cheesecloth or coffee filter into a large measuring cup or other means of storage. Let it cool for five minutes. Now flavor to your liking and enjoy.

Cannabis Chai Tea Latte

1/2 cup of water

1/2 gram of ground marijuana (use more if you're using stems and leaves)

1/2 teaspoon butter (this is optional and can be replaced by extra cream or milk)

1 chai tea bag

1 cup whole milk or cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add your ground marijuana, vanilla, cream or milk, and butter to a blender. Blend these until you have a smooth mixture. Let this mixture sit for around an hour then add it and your water to a pot. Bring this to a boil for 30 minutes. Again, if you're seeing a lot of evaporation be sure to add water as needed. Remove your tea from the heat and add your chai tea bag. Steep the bag for around fivr minutes then strain everything through some cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Add sugar, honey, or any other sweetener as you see fit and enjoy a relaxing cannabis chai tea latte.

Final Thoughts

Cannabis teas made with alcohol tend to be less popular than other varieties. This may be because they tend to overly flavor the tea. I haven't covered any recipes for them, however they're straightforward and work like the other soluble tea recipes. You should be able to find a good recipe if you want to experiment in the future.

Now that you know how to make cannabis tea you can try all kinds of variations on this theme. You can try making a cannabis infused milk to add to a regular tea or you can use any of these recipes to make an ice tea. Try out some different options and don't afraid to experiment. However, be very careful. Cannabis tea can be much more powerful than you would expect and is very easy to overdo it. Start with less and build to a high that you're comfortable with. Many people recommending trying your first batch of cannabis tea a couple hours before bed. Always be safe and enjoy!